By Brian Proffitt
Managing Editor
[ Thanks to dom for
this tip. ]
While Microsoft touts to anyone who will listen the virtures of
its software, it still relies on the Linux operating system to
protect its Web presence.
According to Netcraft.com, a search on the beta.search.msn.com
domain reveals that Linux is indeed the operating system chosen to
run on Microsoft’s outsourced DNS servers.
The servers are owned by Akamai, which Microsoft has used in the
past. Microsoft has changed the DNS of its Web sites so requests
for pages are dealt with by Akamai cache servers–which primarily
uses Linux-based servers.
Microsoft’s regular use of Akamai started last year, when the
Microsoft.com domain came under heavy DDOS attack. At that time,
Microsoft faced the choice of taking down their sites to weather
storms caused by the notorious Blaster worm or using connection
service providers that would protect their domains for them.
Thus, the use of Akamai again for Microsoft’s new search service
is hardly surprising. Given past history, Microsoft’s beta search
engine is likely to attract more than just user and critical
attention in the days to come.